A conventional control device for a transmission is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-147590. The control device for the transmission includes a shift operation mechanism for performing a shift operation in the transmission, a select actuator for moving the shift operation mechanism in a selecting direction, a shift actuator for moving the shift operation mechanism in a shift direction, a target gear position instruction means for instructing a target gear position of the transmission, and a controller for controlling the select and shift actuators based upon a shift instruction from the target gear position instruction means.
In the above-described control device for the transmission, the select and shift actuators are controlled based upon the shift instruction from the target gear position instruction means. Therefore, the shift operation can be automated even if the vehicle is provided with a manual type transmission.
In order to automate the shift operation in the above-described vehicle transmission, it is necessary to obtain information on each shift gate position. However, the accurate information on the shift gate position cannot be always obtained especially after assembling the transmission in the vehicle. Further, even if a design dimension is referred to, the accurate information on the shift gate position cannot be necessarily obtained due to some defects such as dimensional tolerance for each product. Automation of the shift operation can be preferably achieved when the accurate information on the shift gate position is obtained.
The present invention is based on the observation by the inventors of the invention. In light of forgoing, a need exists for providing an improved method of determining a shift gate position for a vehicle transmission and an improved shift gate position determining system.